Bangladesh

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UCVM faculty member, Judit Smits, completed a clinical research trial in humans in Bangladesh, testing high-selenium lentil diets to mitigate health problems and increase excretion of arsenic in people chronically exposed to very high levels (> 100 ppb) of arsenic in their drinking water and food. This research began on animals before moving to human clinical trials. The government of Bangladesh is excited about the results of the trial and is supporting a follow-up trial involving 8,000 people, which will require local Bangladeshi, as well as Canadian researchers’ support. This project has also been showcased in the Globe & Mail and on CBC’s Quirks and Quarks.

Foreign leads: Evana Akhtar, Samar Kumar Hore, Md. Yunus, and Rubhana Raqib from the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh

Other collaborators: Governments of Bangladesh, Canada, Sweden, and the UK

Funding: Grand Challenges Canada - Stars in Global Health program, Global Institute for Food Security, Saskatchewan Pulse Development Board

Major accomplishments to date:

  • Judit E. Smits, Regina M. Krohn, Evana Akhtar, S. Kumar Hore, Md. Yunus, A. Vandenberg, Rubhana Raqib.  2019. Food as medicine: high selenium lentils offer relief against chronic arsenic poisoning in Bangladesh. Environment Research 176: 108561   doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2019.108561
  • Regina M. Krohn, Rubhhana Raqib, Evana Akhtar, Albert Vandenberg, Judit E.G. Smits. 2016. A high-selenium lentil dietary intervention in Bangladesh to counteract arsenic toxicity: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.  Trials 17:218-226      DOI 10.1186/s13063-016-1344-y
  • R.M. Krohn1, M Lemaire, Negro Silva LF, Mann KK, Smits JEG. 2015. High-selenium lentil diet protects against arsenic-induced atherosclerosis in a mouse model. Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry  doi:10.1016/j.jnutbio.2015.07.003
  • S. Sah, A. Vandenberg, J.E. Smits. 2013. Treating chronic arsenic toxicity with high selenium lentil diets. Toxicology & Applied Pharmacology  272: 256-262    doi: 10.1016/j.taap.2013.06.008
  • Sah Swheta, Judit E.G. Smits. 2012. Dietary selenium fortification: A potential solution to chronic arsenic toxicity. Toxicology and Environmental Chemistry 94(7): 1453-1465  DOI:10.1080/02772248.2012.701104
  • Nain, S., Smits, J.E.G. 2012.  Pathological, immunological and biochemical biomarkers of sub-chronic arsenic toxicity in experimental rats.  Environmental Toxicology 27(4): 244–254 April   Article first published online: 19 AUG 2010 DOI: 10.1002/tox.20635
  • Dr. David Hall, Associate professor, involved in research in Bangladesh around access to dairy markets, which involves field research for graduate students, and will provide input for related policy development.